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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3037645" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Seventy-two, “Breakfast Gathering”, Saturday, June 3rd , 1882, 8:00 A.M. Kate woke in the morning still feeling tired. It had been a very busy week and it seemed it was all catching up with her now. The sun was much farther above the horizon that it usually was when she woke.  Thankfully she had no obligations until she must be out at the ranch at noon. She dressed simply and went out to Laurie Gilson's for a bath. It was lovely to have a tub at home now, but for this morning she was going to let someone else do the work.Kate was surprised to discover that Laurie Gilson wasn't actually in at the moment, having left her assistant Jules Huerta in charge of the Bath House for a few days while she and Judge Lacey were away on a trip of some sort. Jules is being assisted by Skip Weston, a former cowboy turned bouncer who lost his job in the Tombstone fire and then came to Promise City looking for work. A bath is drawn for Kate.Once the bath was drawn and Kate was alone she removed her clothing and looked down at herself. True she had put on a few pounds, but Conrad was a little early in thinking she was showing. Her figure was still neat and slim although a little thicker than it had been. She could no longer see her ribs sticking out; her hips were once again full and round. For now she only looked healthy. It would be late in July before she truly began to take on an obvious shape. The inspection complete, Kate stepped into the tub and sank down into the steaming water. She smiled to herself thinking of Laurie gone off with Judge Lacey. Apparently it was not nearly so taboo a thing here as back home. She'd been rather shocked by Clarisse going to Tombstone with Chester as well.  She spent a good hour in that tub soaking away her own dark thoughts and emerged feeling more rested than she did after her night of odd dreams. Once she was dressed again she went over to the El Parador to get some breakfast.Dorita says she will get Kate food and brings her out a cup of tea to start with. While Kate is waiting Chumbley comes by with the day's newspaper hot off the presses and sells a copy to her as well as the other five patrons. He asks Pedro about Sydney Sue and is told she hasn't come down for breakfast yet. Disappointed, Chumbley departs. The main story on page one has the headline "Two More Ranchers Murdered". It tells of the deaths Thursday afternoon of Denny Garvin of the Thayer Ranch and Gordy Bryson of the Crazy-8 Ranch, both killed by rifle shots out at the Crazy-8 Ranch on Thursday afternoon. The story reads that two of the town's lawmen, Mitchel Berg and Chester Martin were present at the shooting but not directly involved. Three other ranchers present claim that the lawmen were indirectly responsible, that they had given a signal to their hidden ally to assassinate the men. The story confirms that none of the other three Deputy Marshall's could have been involved as they were in all town at the time with multiple witnesses. The other front page story has the title "Election Fraud Attempted!" It actually tells of two separate accounts. The first is what Kate had heard the night before from Nate Caudell, of Bill Watkins attempting to bribe Dennis Winston. The other account is about the Alhambra's owner Steve Lord missing Wednesday morning's vote due to a telegram sending him to Benson to be with his dying father. Upon his arrival there he found his father to be in fine health. The Benson telegraph operator confirmed that the telegram was indeed sent from there but the man who sent it was not anybody known in the town. The remainder of the newspaper is mostly advertisements, with three more candidates announcing their intentions to run for office. These are a quarter-page ad from Dennis Winston stating that he will run for Town Council. He says that if the Law and Order tickets asks him to he will be honored to join that party but otherwise he will run as an independent. Deputy Sheriff Colin Hunter has a half-page advertisement announcing his candidacy for Town Marshall. And a full-page advertisement has been placed by Attorney Elihu Upton, announcing his candidacy for Town Council. He states that he has been a life-long Republican and has contacted the National Party about their support of the election. There is a nice story on page four about the dedication ceremony of the Hoover School. The school is also mentioned in a page seven story stating that they have accepted the challenge from the Promise City School of Moral Values for a game of baseball on Tuesday afternoon, the game to be played at the field north of town.Ginnie stumbles out into the room book in one hand cookie and glass of milk in the other red hair tussled and knotted and still in the clothing she had on last night. "Oh Hi Ma'am Kate, things got interesting last night after you left and when the saloon closed I needed to come here. Oh and we made 27% more profit last night over a regular night."Kate's mouth dropped open for a moment, listening to the torrent of words coming out of Ginnie's mouth. The one thing that really registered was that she hadn't even known Ginnie hadn't come home. Kate had checked her room this morning, but she was so often up and doing before Kate rose that it wasn't unusual that she wasn't there.  "I'm glad you at least knew to go somewhere safe if you weren't coming home. You're first night in charge was a success, then. But what was so important that you couldn't come home at night?"Ginnnie sits down and begins to pull out a pinch of powder as Dorita snatches the cookie out of her hand and places a plate of eggs and flatbread in front of her "Breakfast then talk then bed no more cookies"  Kate exclaims, "Haven't you been to sleep yet?"  Ginnie replies, “Well I did fall asleep for a little while over one of the books I was looking at. After I closed up the Lucky Lady I came straight over to Mr. Gonzales’s library, I really needed to find out something, and I've been there ever since. When I woke up I realize that it would be breakfast time and I could have it here although I was hoping just to have cookies and milk but I guess Dorita has other ideas.”Kate exclaims, "And thank goodness she does. You need to eat real food. At least you've had some sleep and I expect you to get some more after breakfast. In a bed. Is there a reason you didn't get Mr. Gonzales to help you?"  Gonzales voice rings out behind Kate and says, "Probably because I was sound asleep in my own room." He notices the powder in Ginnie's hand and says, "And I believe she would prefer to have breakfast over candle light before telling us what she has discovered." Ginnie does the honors of the candle and Privacy Spell. Once it is in effect Gonzales tells Kate, "Before leaving the Lucky Lady I, or rather the middle-aged woman seated near the stage, told Ginnie that I was tied and heading off to bed so I'm sure that is why she chose not to disturb me. I also informed her that one of Jake's customers was a wizard using magic to cheat, which I assume is what this all-night research project was all about." The sunlight streaming through the open window strikes Jake's lidded eyes like sharp knives. He gently searches the top of his head in an attempt to remove the iron spike that must have been driven into it without success. Stiff and achy from having slept on the floor he moves slowly into a kneeling position where his stomach takes its turn in providing an unpleasant reprimand as well. He momentarily considers whether he should shoot himself in the head or go in search of hot black coffee. He decides that his Colt makes too much noise to shoot himself. In clean but wrinkled clothes he presses his hat down keeping as much of the sun out as he can. He leaves his house headed for the Lucky Lady but forgets to turn. Halfway to the El Parador he realizes his misdirection but decides it is too far to walk to the Lady now. "Dorita can make coffee," he mumbles, "but if she tries any of that blasted hangover cure I swear I will shoot her." He takes a few more steps and remembers how much noise his Colt makes. He shrugs, winces from the ache and continues to the cantina.  Inside he sits at the closest table, cradles his head in his hands and mumbles "Black coffee," to the first thing that resembles Dorita Figueres that walks by.The coffee mug is banged on the table loudly before the words are finished coming from Jake's mouth. Dorita exclaims, "Coffee, Coffee! You no need coffee! You drink this instead.” When the bottle takes the man he runs to his mama when his mama not here he comes to me!" She then smacks another mug of coffee on the table and a plate of what looks like dry flat toast in front of him "HE stay away for days then no 'Good morning Dorita', no 'Hello Dorita', just "BLACK COFFEE" HUM!" With that she heads into the kitchen muttering in Spanish.While Gonzales, Ginnie and Kate are talking Jake had staggered into the saloon, plopped himself down at the first table he saw and had the interchange with Dorita.    "Ruby's birthday was yesterday," Kate said quietly, nodding toward Jake. "Is this something he needs to hear as well, Ginnie?"    Ginnie looks at Jake "Yes he should know what I've found out but I'm not going near enough to him to tell him, at least not until he's had some of that coffee. So I'll catch you up on what happened after you two left then get him." She turns to Gonzales and asks, "Will the candle still work if we start without him or would he need to be here for the whole thing?"  He replies, "The candle will work if people come and go, it is the proximity to the table of the person that is the factor."  Ginnie replies, "Okay then, let him get some coffee into him and I'll catch you up." Ginnie then tells the two of them in excruciating detail the events of the evening before, from Gonzales clueing her into the magic to her identifying the cufflinks as a magical source, Melvin's beer dump, Jake's slight of hand the cufflink nearly hitting the floor and her getting the second one from Jake, getting the pair out of the Lucky Lady and the possibility of her having a full time job managing the saloon. "Well that brings you up to speed now we just have to make sure Jake can actually listen to a voice without his head shattering into a million pieces for the next part."Kate replies, "You have been busy, haven't you? I'll go get Jake, it'll just be a minute."  She got up and walked over to the table where Jake had sequestered himself, trying to step as quietly as her heeled shoes would allow. She kept her voice low as well as she said, "Jake? Ginnie has news for you. Come over and sit with us."Jake looks up at her with blood shot eyes. He stares blankly for moment before he nods. With some suspicion the takes a mug that looks like coffee. After a deep breath he wills his body to rise and follows Katherine to the other table. He plops himself down in an empty chair, mumbles, "Morning," and with elbow on the table rests his head on one hand. With some trepidation he manages to sip the coffee."Good morning Mr. Cook," Gonzales states. "We asked you over here to discuss those magical cufflinks that you removed from your patron. Young Ginnie has spent the entire night researching them and I am just as curious as you to discover what she has found out about them."She states, “At first I wasn't sure what I was looking for, if it was some kind of mind reading device, or a way to see through the cards, or something like that. What I finally figured out is it is very much like a small contained set of magic mirrors. You cast a spell, then pick a spot and activate the cufflink. The link then acts as a mirror that allows you to see where you activated the link like a mirror. I think he had one set up behind you Jake, so he could see your hand and another set up behind another player. That way he could win by knowing what you carried. Also the links are set so that only the wizard who cast the spell can see the mirror everyone else sees plain old metal cufflinks. Now can I have a cookie?”Kate says, "You can have breakfast and get to sleep. After you get up you can have a cookie. Don't forget, we're having guests out at the ranch at noon to practice for that ridiculous baseball game.”   Ginnie pouts and states, “But I don't want breakfast, I don't want to go to bed and I don't know if I want to learn how to play baseball.”  She pauses and then says, ”Hey! Can I use magic while we're playing so that those close-minded spoilt human-only brats lose?Kate replies, "I don't want to learn how to play baseball either, but I'm going to. I've done a lot of things I don't want to; you'll get used to it. I didn't want to eat at all for a few months so I didn't. You saw what that did.  And we will not be using magic to make sure they lose. If they win, they win. I won't stoop to cheating to show them up. They only time I'm worried about doing better than them is when it comes to education. Don't go to bed if you don't want to, but don't blame me if you're tired and cranky all day. Breakfast is non-negotiable. But there might be a cookie at the end of it."Kate turns to her hung over friend and asks, “Did you confront this man about the cheating Jake? Will he be back?"  Jake rubs his eyes before responding. "The man was mean spirited and showed no remorse." Jake relates the conversation with him. "There was something about him that suggests I have not seen the last of him." Jake has another long drink of the coffee. "I will not be returning Messier his little toys, though I prefer not to be suspected of cheating at cards. Ginnie, you can keep them if you like. You earned them. Even though you do not normally wear a mans shirt cuff, I suspect you can find a way to use them.""I wish I had heard the conversation myself. From what you're saying it sounds like that man was at the Lady on reconnaissance. For Evan Adair, maybe?" Kate said uncertainly.  Gonzales replies, "Or perhaps he was just there to cheat at cards. He shows up there on the night when it is the most busy, when one of the partner's has just died and another partner is out of town. It could just be that he suspected the Lucky Lady of being an easy mark. And he would have probably been right if I had not been there in disguise. From what I heard Adair didn't know he was going to be released from Tombstone until mid-morning on Friday, setting things up for that evening with miners living a different direction from town strikes me as a little soon even for Adair."Jake looks back at her dully, his throbbing mind not really working very well yet. "Adair?" Gonzalez responds and Jake pretends to agree with his assessment and nods his head. Then he immediately wished he had not. Adair, he thinks to himself, I will have to think about that. He nurses his coffee and his head while the others currently better able to think do so.Kate states, "I suppose I'm just getting suspicious in my old age. It's lucky you were there, and I'm ashamed I didn't realize it."   He says, “He replies, "Well, there is a lot I have not had a chance to teach you yet. You have been rather busy."  She replies, "That's no excuse, I should be making the time. I'll be here tomorrow afternoon, ready to study."Kate turned to Ginnie with a softer look and said, "And you've done brilliantly figuring out how those cufflinks worked, never mind working with Jake to get them in the first place. Just humor me and take care of yourself today after your hard work."Gonzales says, "I'll head upstairs with her. I have that potion that makes a person feel like eight hours rest after just one which I think this calls for." He turns to Ginnie and says, "You've done a remarkable job thus far but there are still some key elements to those cufflinks that you haven't identified such as the command words. We'll work on that this morning and still get you out to the ranch in time for baseball. I've never played it myself but I've seen Doctor Eaton and his boys practicing it before and it looks like fun."Chester comes down the stairs from his room. He stops by the El Parador for breakfast. Dorita will have my head if I don't. He smiles and shakes his head. Chester notices the group sitting at the table. He waves and Kate waves in return. She motions for him to join them. He sees the candle on the table and nods. Pulling up a chair, the lawman enters the silent bubble. He says, "Morning everyone."Gonzales states, "Good morning Deputy Marshall. I was reading in the newspaper that you've been knee-deep in dead ranchers. Care to share with us what is going on?" He gestures towards the candle, indicating that they have some privacy for this discussion.  Chester clears his throat and speaks, "A couple days ago, we found Claude Buckley murdered near Sam Slade's place. I don't know if you know, but he was one of the rabble-rousers who wanted to lynch Nakomo and the other Indians. The Marshall recognized him, so we rode out to the Crazy-8 to talk to his ranch hands. Not only did they not want to talk, but 2 of them, Bryson and Garvin point rifles at us. While we're trying to talk them out of shooting us, someone else shoots them down. Mitch gets Wagner into the ranch house, while I go after the gunman. I catch a glimpse of him, a guy in a brown jacket riding an Appaloosa. He saved us from Bryson, but Garvin was lowering his rifle. I reckon he killed Buckley, but I've heard that isn't true. I found tracks coming from Hamilton Fisk's house leading to the body, so I'm going there next."Kate states, "We've suspected Fisk is the money behind the Cowboy Gang for some time. This sounds like more evidence of a couple different factions vying for power. I recognized one of the men in the lynch mob as a Gang member. Those killed also didn't choose to join the town, but I'm not sure that's a factor.”   Chester replies, "That's what I thought at first, too. But what I've heard recently gives me pause."   Kate adds, “I was also told that men from Thayer's ranch have been watching our ranch. I have no idea why, but I'm going to warn Sonoma about it later today."   Chester asks, "Anything unusual happen out there, Kate? You need some protection?"  She answers, "Nothing unusual, just a lot with cattle and horses and planting. I don't know if we need protection. For now we'll have to keep our eyes and ears open and our guards up."  Chester scratches his chin. "Then why would they be watching the ranch? They must be looking for something. It'll be a good idea to find out what that is before they do."  Kate replies, "I don't know, Chester. It could have to do with us having put a large number of Cowboys underground. It might be because our ranch is owned by women, elves, and dwarves. Or it might be because our ranch stood for giving all races the vote. Or it could be something else entirely."  Chester states, "I don't like it. They could start shooting at you at any time. What do you say about me paying these guys a visit?"Kate says, "I say no, truth be told. If we tip them off that we know we may never find out why. I doubt they'll be forthcoming if you asked them."   Chester gives a grim smile. "Who said anything about asking them anything? I'd rather just scare them off. But if you think that would tip them off, then I'll hold back. Should the Marshall take the advice of Jake's visitor and not look into Buckley's death? People are going to ask questions if he does."  Kate replies, "That's up to you, Chester. He was probably right, if we let them to themselves they'll probably take care of the problem for us. But letting that kind of thing go sets a bad precedent."Ginnie states, "It could also be that the birth rate for the animals at the ranch is about 200% more than normal and they want to figure out why and what's going on. That kind of expansion is money in the bank especially if they can figure out how it's being done. If nothing else they may be thinking of acquiring some of the "extra" stock and with so many it would be easier to nab a few head. Sonoma told me that when the mother still has at least one to feed she won't make as much of a fuss if one is missing"Kate sighed. "We need to start branding. And we need to hire on hands. I don't know where we'll find people we can trust or how we'll pay them but it's going to more than we can handle very soon. We should probably name the place, too."Minerva had risen with the sun gives thanks to her gods and goes out to work in her garden. Nakomo comes to the door looking very much the teenager, with his tussled hair and a distaste for the early hour evident in his chocolate eyes. "You are up very early Senorita Minerva." he says reprovingly. You should have woken me. I would have done the gardening."  Minerva straightens and sits back on her haunches, wiping the hair from her eyes with the back of her dirt covered hand. "It is not necessary for you to do everything Nakomo. Besides which, I like gardening. It busies the hands and free's the mind for thinking." She stands and wipes her hands on her apron. "I have been up for a while and so have had time to contemplate a great many things. I think that a job for you is a fine idea. I spoke to Senor Jake about it last evening and he sounded like he could find you work. You should speak to him about that later today after you have enrolled in school. Nakomo startles at this proclamation and Minerva raises her hand, blocking his protest. "I will brook no argument, Nakomo. The spirit knows that its growth is the real aim of it's existence and education is paramount to that growth. Now I know that you are concerned about how you will pay for it, but I am sure that we can work out an arrangements with the Hoover school.  Come let's have some breakfast and then we will go out to the desert and continue your weapon's training."   Upon their arrival Manuel Gonzales waves Minerva and Nakomo over to the rapidly filling table and gestures for them to have a seat.While the group is eating breakfast Josiah Arcadiam (Arcade) and his wife Morgana enter the El Parador in the company of two men. The first of these men is Hans Schmidt, the pilot for Arcade's Gang and a former resident of the El Parador. The other is the man is recognized by Kate and Chester as Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. They take a seat at the far end of the room. Manuel Gonzales excuses himself and goes to join those four. Kate, Ginnie and Minvera all notice that Morgana lights a candle and casts the Privacy Spell for that table.  Ginnie watches the other group carefully trying to decide if the privacy spell works on the way people see others speaking as well or if it is just the verbal that it masks it and also is listening with half and ear still watching the other table.</blockquote>

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